Auguste Rodin won a commission in 1880 to design massive doors for a museum of decorative arts in Paris. Alas, the museum never reached fruition, but the project provided fertile ground for Rodin’s imagination.

Taking a cue from the Italian poet Dante Alighieri and his epic Divine Comedy, Rodin conceived of a thematic program related to the nine circles of hell. The doors became known as The Gates of Hell, a play on the extraordinary bronze doors crafted in the Renaissance by Lorenzo Ghiberti, which were so beautiful they were dubbed by Michelangelo as “the Gates of Paradise.”

Rodin’s embraced couple were originally formed as part of the sculptural decoration of the doors. They may seem to be innocent lovers, but they were created to symbolize the impassioned 13th century Italians Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini. He was her husband’s brother, yet both were helplessly drawn to each other. Their fate was sealed by the murderous reaction of Francesca’s husband. He killed them both, and the adulterous pair were immortalized by Dante as doomed to the second circle of hell. At least, that is how it worked out in the poem. Rodin’s vision gave form to the amorous couple in many sizes and materials, ultimately under a more benign title, simply The Kiss.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14

In a Lonely Place: a lecture by artist Gregory Crewdson will be held on Thursday. Photo courtesy of Haggerty Museum of Art.

The photography of Gregory Crewdson is included in Dark Blue: The Water as Protagonist, one of the Haggerty’s new exhibits. Crewdson is an internationally renowned artist and an associate professor of photographer at Yale.